British Parliamentary Papers - Emory has online access to parliamentary papers for the 18th and 19th Centuries as well as state papers for the 16th, 17th and a small portion of the 18th century. In addition, we have Parliamentary Papers and many other British government publications - as well as indexes to them - in print or microformat.

Primary Sources on the Web

Thanks to a number of major digitization initiatives, MANY published sources (books, journals, etc.) are now freely available via digital web repositories. Most of these materials are in the public domain - i.e. not copyright-protected. For the U.S. this means titles published prior to 1922; copyright "cutoff" dates vary for other countries. Googling by title or author will likely retrieve materials in these digital repositories, but you can also search their contents individually. Notable examples:

There are a gazillion good websites containing digital primary sources, but evaluate carefully what you find (see box to the left). If you know of a library, archival repository or other institution that holds resources relevant for your research, check their website to see if they've digitized anything. There are also some good "all-purpose" sites, for example:

Look for works by individuals, associations, or other groups directly involved with the topic you are researching by searching for their names as AUTHORS.

Try adding one or more of the following search terms to your search:

autobiographies

diaries

autobiography

personal narratives

biography

sources

captivity narratives

speeches

correspondence

pamphlets

Examples:

sioux and biography

japanese internment and (sources or personal narratives)

TIP: You can also ask the library reference staff for help in refining your search strategy.

Microforms - Information Resources in an Itty Bitty Format

Woodruff Library has millions of pages of newspapers, government documents, manuscript and archival records, and other primary source collections in microformat. Microforms are a storage medium containing materials that are photographed at a greatly reduced size for ease of storage and preservation.

The most common types of microforms are microfilm, which resembles a pint-size movie reel; and microfiche, which looks like a large plastic index card. Woodruff's microform collections are listed in discoverE and are physically located on Woodruff Level 1. They can be viewed, printed and scanned using special equipment also located on Level 1.

It takes practice to search for and use microforms effectively - so ask for help!

Tip: In recent years, digitized microfilm collections have become increasingly available. Be sure to check to see if whether or not a collection has been digitized!